1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to an interior decorative material having tatami facing, and more particularly, to a thin tatami mat and a tiling tatami panel.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Tatami mats have been traditionally used as flooring of Japanese-style houses and buildings. Recently, however, various ways of use of tatami mats have been proposed, such as laying one or more tatami mats on a limited area of a floor of a Western-style room instead of a carpet. Traditional tatami mats are made up of a mat bed made of straws, a facing made of mat rushes, which is placed on and stitched together with the mat bed, and edge-covering strips extending on and along opposite side borders of the facing and stitched together to the mat bed.
Under the circumstances, tatami mats using a synthetic resin material such as polypropylene as the facing in lieu of mat rushes (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9(1997)-60260) and those mainly using foam such as polystyrene foam as the mat bed in lieu of straws (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 7(1995)-189463 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 8(1996)-151774) have got to be used widely. In addition, although traditional tatami mats have edge-covering strips stitched beforehand along opposite side borders thereof, those without edge-covering strips, to be applied with such edge-covering strips after the tatami mat or mats are arranged in position, have been brought into market (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9(1997)-195485).
Thus, tatami mats have been changed variously in way of use and material, and stripless tatami mats have also appeared. However, there is no substantial change in technique for fabricating tatami mats, and a method relying on craftsman""s skill is still used.
The traditional technique of fabricating a traditional stripless tatami mat will be explained below following its steps.
(1) A facing is laid over a mat bed;
(2) opposite end border portions of the facing are folded down to the bottom of the bed mat, wrapping the associated ends of the mat bed, each end border of the facing extending substantially in parallel with rushes composing the facing;
(3) opposite side border portions of the facing are cut away along the corresponding side borders of the mat bed, each side border extending along aligned ends of the rushes of the facing;
(4) each edge-covering strip is placed inside out on the facing along but slightly inside each side border of the facing and the edge-covering strip is stitched to the mat bed through the facing; and
(5) each edge-covering strip is raised along the seam and folded back to the bottom of the mat bed to lie on the corresponding side periphery of the mat bed, and stitched again to the side periphery.
A method of fabricating the tatami mat disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 9(1997)-195485, already introduced, is essentially the same as that of the traditional tatami mat, except for the steps of stitching each edge-covering strip of the above-mentioned manufacturing method of the traditional tatami mat. That is,
(1) a facing is laid over the mat bed;
(2) opposite end border portions of the facing are folded down to the bottom of the bed mat, wrapping the longitudinal ends of the mat bed; and
(3) opposite side border portions of the facing are folded down to wrap side peripheries of the mat bed and then stitched to the side peripheries.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a thin tatami mat that can be made without the need of craftsman""s skill, as well as its manufacturing method.
A further object of the invention is to provide a thin tatami mat that can reduce the manufacturing cost, as well as its manufacturing method.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a thin tatami mat that can be placed in position of a room more easily.
A yet further object of the invention is to provide a stripless thin tatami mat that can be made without the need of craftsman""s skill, as well as its manufacturing method.
A yet further object of the invention is to provide a tiling tatami panel having a facing convenient for tiling with the tatami mats.
A yet further object of the invention is to provide a tiling tatami panel having a cushiony resiliency.
A yet further object of the invention is to provide a tiling tatami panel that ensures a user to get an impression of a tatami mat made of natural materials when he/she treads on it.
According to one aspect of the invention, those objects of the invention can be accomplished by providing a thin tatami mat comprising: a mat bed; a facing substantially equal in size to the mat bed and bonded to the top surface of the mat bed; and an edge stabilizing means for stabilizing borders of the facing from deformation.
Thickness of the thin tatami mat according to the invention is typically 5 through 30 mm, more preferably 5 through 20 mm, and most desirably 10 through 20 mm. The edge stabilizing means may be, for example adhesive tape covering borders of the facing and side peripheries of the mat bed. Alternatively, side border portions of the facing may be flattened by hot pressing and the flattened portion or reduced thickness portion may be covered with a protective film. The protective film is preferably formed by coating each border portion of the facing with natural rubber or an adhesive resin material such as latex resin. The protective film may extend from each border of the facing to the corresponding side periphery of the mat bed.
The facing is typically made of natural mat rushes, but other materials such as resin rushes (facing products) or wooden fibers are also acceptable. The mat bed may be made of any material having an appropriate resiliency, such as rubbery substance, foam, felt, or the like. From the standpoint of environmental protection, it is desirable that the tatami mat according to the invention is made of materials generating less toxic products when the tatami mat is incinerated as waste after use. Materials recommended for this purpose are composite foam of calcium carbonate and polyolefin, and felt.
According to another aspect of the invention, those objects are accomplished by providing a manufacturing method of a thin tatami mat having a facing and a mat bed and having thickness in the range from 5 mm to 30 mm, comprising: preparing the mat bed; preparing the facing substantially equal in size to the mat bed; bonding the facing onto the mat bed.
According to another aspect of the invention, those objects are accomplished by providing a tiling tatami panel comprising: a base member; a facing substantially equal in size to the base member and bonded to the top surface of the base member; and an edge stabilizing means for stabilizing borders of the facing from deformation.
The edge stabilizing means may be first chamfering border portions of the facing and thereafter covering the chamfered portions with protective films. Alternatively, the edge stabilizing means may be an adhesive tape covering each border portion of the facing and the corresponding side periphery of the mat bed. Alternatively, the edge stabilizing means may be first flattening each border portion of the facing by hot pressing and thereafter covering each flattened portion with a protective film. Alternatively, the edge-stabilizing means may be whipstitching. In this case, whipstitching may be followed by hot pressing of that portion to flatten it. However, that portion after whipstitching is preferably covered with a protective film.